


Richie Tozier sucks at feelings.

by valerian_valentine



Category: IT - Stephen King
Genre: Beverly Marsh & Richie Tozier Are Best Friends, Crushes, Idiots in Love, M/M, Richie Tozier is Bad at Feelings, Swimming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:48:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21653260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valerian_valentine/pseuds/valerian_valentine
Summary: Richie is a dumbass and doesn't know how he feels so he consults Beverly.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 5
Kudos: 95





	Richie Tozier sucks at feelings.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a gift for a friend and that's why it's complete dog shit :)

It was a lovely day. Sunny, beautiful weather, the perfect conditions to go swimming in the quarry and ignore all their problems.

Except for the fact that one of Richie's problems was right there, fighting with Stan on whether or not consuming the water they were swimming in meant you had to get your stomach pumped. The way Eddie's arms crossed across his chest, the way his nose scrunched up when Stan said something gross, the way he rolled his eyes.. it all made his chest feel weird. Like when he was on a rollercoaster and he was at the very top, right about the woosh down and everything just… Poofed and the only thing that mattered was the way he was feeling at that moment. Calm and weightless.

Richie didn't understand why he felt this way when he saw Eddie. Specifically Eddie, no one else! Not Bill, not Ben, not even Bev!! Lots of B names in their group. Well, that's not the point. The point was, he just couldn't seem to focus when Eddie was around. Well, Richie couldn't focus a lot of the time but especially when Eddie was around. It was like every logical thought disappeared and the only thing going through his head was how to make Eddie laugh. It made him spout even more bullshit out than usual and whatever control he had over his mouth just fucked off to god knows where.

Being around Eddie was just weird. Really weird. Why did he feel like this around Eddie and only Eddie? Was there something wrong with him? Was he sick? Did Eddie take some weird sort of medicine he was allergic to that made him really dumb? Was it Eddie's mom's perfume that he was allergic to? Maybe he was just annoyed? What if it was something like.. hormonal? Was it like a puberty thing? Maybe his weird brain was mistaking Eddie for a girl and confusing his body. Like how being carsick is just your brain being confused on whether or not you were genuinely moving your body! Yeah, maybe that was it.

But as Richie reached the conclusion that Eddie made him carsick, he began to realize that the world was very blurry. Like, really blurry. Was he dying? He reached up to grab his glasses and tensed when he realized they weren't there.

"Uh guys…" Richie mumbled, quickly moving his arms and legs underwater to hopefully feel where his glasses went. No one took notice of Richie, still playing around. Richie felt panic start building up for no reason. What if he couldn't find his glasses?

"Guys.." Richie said, a little louder this time. No one heard him. Oh god, what if he had to go home without his glasses? His parents would be so upset and he'd have to wait forever for a new pair. Just the thought of his parents being mad at him made him feel like tearing up.

"Gu-Uys!" He shouted, voice cracking as he shouted. The others turned to face him… Probably. They were definitely moving… Maybe?

"Jeez Richie, if this is another one of your ridiculous and shitty impressions then I'm leaving!" Eddie stated, his weird blurry body shifting around.

"It's not a fucking impression! I can't find my glasses and my parents will kill me if I don't fucking find them!" Richie snapped at him before diving down, feeling around in the sand for his glasses but he was soon yanked up to the surface by a couple of hands.

"Richie!" Oh, it was Ed's. "Jesus Christ dude, you can't just dive into the water after losing your glasses! That's a guaranteed drowning!" Eddie scolded him, not at all easing his increasing worry. "Beverly's going to take you to the shore while the rest of us look for them. Don't do anything stupid!" Eddie said and let go of his arm while the person on his left, Beverly, lead him back to shore. 

He followed her closely, letting her guide him to a nice place they could sit at. His legs felt shaky and unsteady as he tried to walk, not wanting to step on anything sharp.

"It's okay Richie, they're gonna find them and if your parents get mad then we can say someone broke them." She said reassuringly as she sat him down on a rock. 

"They'll still be mad.. Glasses are really expensive and my dad payed a lot for mine and I don't wanna lose them." He responded quietly, squinting at the water like that would help him see his friends looking for his glasses.

Bev sighed and lightly rubbed his back, a smile on her face. "Hey, take a deep breath. You're going to be okay. They're gonna find them and you'll be seeing in no time!" She said, trying to cheer him up. She had some sort of understanding look in her eyes like she knew what it was like to be scared of disappointing your parents. Richie decided not to think too long on that.

"Right…" He mumbled and put his hand in front of his mouth, mimicking the poses Eddie did when he took his inhaler without even realizing it. The thought of air suddenly shooting into his lungs helped him calm down and miming the action helped more. Before he could even realize what he was doing, his brain jumped to a different subject: The feeling he got when he was with Eddie. "Oh, hey, you're a girl!" Richie said like he just realized that Beverly was indeed a female.

Bev raised an eyebrow, a confused smile on her face. "Uh, yeah? Why?" She asked, hoping whatever he was about to say wasn't disgusting and gross.

"Well uh…. You know feelings! And you're smart so.. Um.." Richie tried making his brain work for once and choose the right words. "Well, I wanted to ask you 'bout somethin'.. What does it mean when I look at someone and it feels like I'm on a rollercoaster and I'm just about to go down the big drop? Like I'm all weightless and stuff… Does that mean I'm having some sort of allergic reaction or something?" Richie asked, kicking his legs to distract himself a bit.

"Oh. Well. Can you tell me more?" Beverly asked quietly, not wanting the other boys to hear and make fun of Richie.

"Okay! Well… Arugh, whenever I like… whenever I'm around Eddie and I like, look at him, my stomach feels all funky and my heartbeat goes crazy and I just kinda say whatever comes to mind more than usual. It's like I'm nervous but better? Like there's no bad feelings, just… weird. And I start focusing completely on him and sometimes I start just spacing out around him and sometimes I just feel really happy around him. Sometimes I get these weirdo feelings around the other boys but not as intense, ya know? Like I really like making them happy and I feel happy around Bill cause he's my best friend and Stan sometimes helps me calm down and sometimes I get a bit too wrapped up in Ben's stories and start focusing completely on what he's saying but not all the time but when I'm with Eddie, it's all the time." Richie confessed, his eyebrows knit together in confusion and concentration as he tried to out words to the unknown feeling. "But sometimes Eddie really makes me feel sad.. like when he makes fun of my teeth or glasses or when he really gets mad at me and not in a joking way. It hurts like ten times worse! And when he talks about how pretty someone is, I feel all.. squishy and uncomfortable like there's something caught in my throat." Richie said and sighed, shrugging. "I think I'm allergic to him. That, or my brain thinks he's a girl and it confuses my body."

Beverly chuckled and shook her head, looking sympathetic. "Richie.. I think you like Eddie." She whispered, glancing at the other boys to make sure they weren't listening in.

Richie frowned and looked at her. "Of course I like Eddie, he's my friend. But don't tell him that." Richie said and picked up a rock, playing with it.

"No, I mean you like like him. You have a crush on him. A pretty big one too."

The words made Richie freeze, feeling worry rise up. "Oh……" He said quietly, mind racing from the new information. It would make sense.. He does have a lot of good feelings when he's around Eddie. "Is.. Is that even possible? For boys to like boys? Isn't that kinda…. Wrong..?" He whispered, concerned. 

Beverly frowned and looked down at the water, concentrating. "I don't think so? I mean, I like boys and it's not wrong, so then it shouldn't be wrong for you to like boys. Besides, if it was wrong and against nature or something then you wouldn't have a crush on him." She said, looking over at the boy.

Richie nodded and smiled a bit. "Yeah, that makes sense. So what do I do now? Do I tell him? Do I tell Bill? Are my parents supposed to know?" Richie asked, getting excited. This was his first crush! He was going to learn everything he needed to know.

"Well, I think you should keep it a secret. There's a lot of people who will judge you for liking Eddie because he's really… Scared of everything and you're kind of the opposite. But I think you can tell your parents and Bill, they don't seem like the type of people to judge you or make fun of you. In the movies, the person with the crush always writes sappy shit about their crush and tries to woo them! I think you should do that." Beverly said, nodding as she talked like she was agreeing with herself. She gasped and put her hand on Richie's arm, looking excited. "We can talk about boys together! That's gonna be so much fun! Oh, we can even have sleepovers since you like boys!" She said happily, her face practically glowing.

"Hell yeah, that's gonna be so much fun! But you have to promise not to tell ANYONE about this, okay? I don't want anyone to know yet." Richie said and held up his pinkie finger. "You have to pinkie promise." He said, knowing it was kinda silly.

Beverly nodded, her face completely serious as she wrapped her pinkie around Richie's. "Of course. I won't tell anyone about this." She said, moving their hands up and down once like a handshake. Before they could continue speaking, they heard someone slosh closer.

"Hey, I found your glass-glass-glasses! Uh.. wh-what are you two doing..?" Bill asked, frowning when he saw how close the two were.

Richie quickly jumped up and snatched his glasses, putting them back on. The world came back into focus, making Richie relax. "Oh, I just made Bev promise not to tell anyone I screwed Eddie's mom. Oh, whoops!" Richie joked a big grin on his face.

"Oh fuck you Richie!" Eddie said before grabbing Richie's glasses, making the boy frown. "Let me clean these first, we can't have you getting pink eye or some dumb shit." Eddie grumbled and went over to his fanny pack, getting out some small spray bottle and a cloth.. Probably. Richie didn't know, he couldn't see. But he could see the concerned look on Eddie's face.

"I'm not gonna get pink eye!" Richie protested but let Eddie clean his glasses. Beverly lightly nudged Richie in Eddie's direction, prompting him to go sit over next to the other boy. After another light nudge, Richie went over and sat next to Eddie, huffing. "You're such a germaphobe." Richie grumbled, watching the blurry shapes of Eddie's hands clean his glasses.

"Uh huh, you'll be thanking me later when you don't have pink eye." Eddie grumbled back, shooting Richie a glare. The other boys and Beverly went back into the water, all talking amongst themselves but Richie wasn't really paying attention to them.

"Hey.." Eddie startled, his voice quiet. "What were you and Bev talking about..? You two looked really serious." Eddie said quietly, his hands slowing down.

Richie frowned, immediately feeling conflicted. This would be the perfect time to confess but what if Eddie didn't like boys? What if Eddie got really upset and stopped being friends with him? "Oh. We were just talking about um.. a person I met recently and Bev told me a few things but we both promised not to talk about it." Richie semi lied and crossed his arms, trying to look tough. "It was a pinky promise so I can't tell you the details unless I want my finger cut off."

Eddie sighed and sat up straight, gently putting Richie's glasses back on his face. "Alright. Here, these should be clean now." The boy said quietly, his hands lingering on Richie's face. His hands felt soft..

Richie blinked hard a few times and looked around, observing his surroundings. "Huh. Thanks. It's a lot easier to see now." He said, eyes focusing on Eddie's face which was now very close. He looked so.. pretty.

"Well yeah, no doy. You always clean them with your filthy clothes." Eddie mumbled quietly, his hands still on Richie's cheeks which started warming up under his touch.

"Oh… yeah.. that makes sense.." Richie said, his voice barely above a whisper. Eddie was so close and he just looked so pretty, it was making his stomach and chest do the weird thing but 100 times more weird.

Eddie seemed to realize how close he was and quickly pulled away, clearing his throat. "Yeah! Of course it does because cleaning something dirty with dirty cleaning supplies just makes it dirtier! I'm going back in and if you lose your dumb glasses again, I'm not gonna find them!" Eddie said quietly, getting up and hurrying back into the water, his face flushed. Probably from the heat.

Richie watched, frozen in place. Maybe he did have a big ol crush on Eddie.... Wait, when did Beverly cut her hair?


End file.
